From Benicia’s ISHO Working Group
September 2023:

This is your invitation to fight for the safety and health of all Benicians. Sign up to learn more about adopting an Industrial Safety and Health Ordinance (ISHO) here in Benicia by filling out the form here: https://forms.gle/GAScUE4WtfrSwDSS8.

Did you know that from at least 2003 through 2022 Valero emitted cancer-causing benzene and other toxic gasses into Benicia’s air, typically hundreds of times higher than levels permitted by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, without informing the City or its citizens? This is just one of many documented, serious offenses and violations Valero has committed – including additional extensive, ongoing, decade-long violations we learned of just this month!

Did you know that the Valero facility is the only refinery in the Bay Area that is not governed by an industrial safety ordinance (ISO), a law that can protect a community’s health and safety?

Do you think we’ve waited long enough for Benicia to adopt an Industrial Safety & Health Ordinance (ISHO)?

A group of Benicians is working on these issues and is proposing legislation to strengthen local laws regarding health and safety. This group, the ISHO Working Group, supports the adoption of an ISHO by the City of Benicia with the aim of significantly improving health, safety, public notification, prevention of and response to future incidents.

On Tuesday, September 5,  Benicia City Council unanimously approved of the “first step” in the process to consider adopting an ISHO.  This first step essentially sets the matter on the agenda, and it is anticipated that the “second step” will occur sometime in December 2023, when staff recommends the next steps to be taken for adopting a future ordinance.

This is the second time we have had a second step for an Industrial Safety Ordinance, but Benicia City Council voted against it with a 3-2 vote in 2018.

Let’s not let that happen again!

If you watched the City Council meeting last Tuesday, you saw ISHO opponents already lobbying against the adoption of an ISHO.  We anticipate that it will require a very strong effort on the part of the ISHO Working Group to get this over the finish line and we will need your support to get it done.

If you would like to learn more about the issues and our efforts to adopt an ISHO, just click the following link and fill out the form: https://forms.gle/GAScUE4WtfrSwDSS8. After that, you will receive regular notices and information about the program and how you can help.

Please share this invitation and link with friends and post it on social media, and please keep up the good work in recruiting more supporters.  It will soon be time for us to speak truth to power and we need all of the support we can get!

Together, we can make a real difference for the safety and health of all Benicians.